Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Imagine a story so big - it was like Anna Nicole Smith, (or better - a real Marilyn Monroe type instead of someone who thinks they are were), meets Tony Soprano meets CSI. Well, back in the day - on April 4th, 1958 the world got all that and then some as mob connected gangster, wanna be movie star Johnny Stompanato is stabbed by his lover's daughter, Cheryl Crane. And his lover is none other than Lana Turner, one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood at the time. She was every bit as big as say Meryl Streep or Nicole Kidman. Megastar. One could only image how frothed the Paparazzi might get if they had a story this juicy. Because the details were even more tawdry. It happened on Good Friday at the big Beverly Hills mansion. Stompanato was killed by a 14 year old girl with a huge carving knife. She was afraid Stompanato was going to hurt her mom, so she went downstairs to the kitchen, got the knife, and in a moment of panic and terror, stabbed Stompanato in the chest. He would eventually die and later on, little Cheryl Crane would be exonerated by a jury. Stranger still, Lana Turner goes on to make one of her best films - Imitation of Life, which is a lot like Lana Turner's real world troubles.